


Absolution

by scrapbullet



Category: Hellraiser & Related Fandoms, Sherlock Holmes (Downey films)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Ficlet, Gen, Lemarchand's Box, M/M, Masochism, Not Beta Read, Religious Guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-28 00:30:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8423695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scrapbullet/pseuds/scrapbullet
Summary: The box, temptress that it is, is safely secured in a locked oak chest.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Thy Kingdom Come](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5764105) by [ClementineStarling](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClementineStarling/pseuds/ClementineStarling). 



> For ClementineStarling's prompt;
> 
> Coward got his hands on Lemarchand's puzzle box, but Blackwood immediately takes it from him and locks it away. What happens next? Will Blackwood let him have it eventually?

Lord Coward’s appetite for repentance burns bright, an intriguing notion that piques Blackwood’s interest. Not the most pious of men, is Nicholas Coward, no, and yet the shame he feels for a perceived sin leads him to seek out avenues that others would sooner balk at than succumb to.

Such an intelligent mind begs to be nurtured, not thrown away like so much dross in the heat of religious fervour. 

The box, temptress that it is, is safely secured in a locked oak chest. It is an old thing, but sturdy; a throwback from his mothers’ more illustrious past, no doubt a gift from an amorous suitor. There, tucked away in a morning room rarely visited, the box shall stay, far away from prying eyes, whilst the key is secured to the chain of his pocket watch, always on his person.

And yet, the weight of Nicholas’ gaze is considerable, cumbersome in its blatancy. 

“You torment me,” Nicholas cries out one evening, the stench of brandy heady on his breath. Alcohol has given him loose lips and spirit, both. “Must you parade the key to my salvation in front of me?”

“What can this trinket give you that I cannot?” Henry returns, amused as Nicholas turns puce, apoplectic, before slumping in his chair as a puppet with its strings cut. The redness in his cheeks and the liquid shine to his eyes belies his frustration, his lack of understanding that _such things are not for blue-blooded boys to play with_ frankly entertaining.

“You wish to suffer? That, I can give you.”

It is the kind of bargain that strengthens the foundations of their relationship. Nicholas, though onerous, is easily led and enjoys the metaphorical leash around his neck. Henry, too, enjoys meting out punishments with the meat of his palm or the sting of the lash, glorying in the tears of thankfulness that follow.

In truth, Henry should have known that Nicholas would buck against authority. 

It is the music that signifies the loss, and the shadows that follow. The morning room, when Henry enters it, is bathed in a light so stark as to be unnatural, and Nicholas - the fool - is on his knees before his angel, wordlessly begging for blessed relief from his guilt.

A cold wind sends shivers down Henry’s spine. Or, perhaps, it is the sight of Nicholas’ angel that chills him to the very core; for the man, in leather cassock sewn into his very flesh, red on white on black, is no such thing. The man touches Nicholas’ forehead, gentle, a twisted smile on a face embedded with nails, and then swiftly pushes a finger into an eye socket. 

Nicholas screams, blood and clear viscous fluid seeping down his trembling cheeks.

 _“This is not for your eyes,”_ says another, and she, with the flesh of her scalp artfully sliced and peeled back from her skull, graces Henry with a smile full of wretched pity. _“The boy is ours now, to do with as we will.”_

Her lips are cold on his cheek. 

Henry closes his eyes to harrowing shrieks of agony, and awakens at dawn, alone. All that is left of sweet Nicholas Coward is a rust-red stain on the carpet.


End file.
